Underground-trolley system



(No Model.)

R. E. SHERMAN 8v D. E. KENYON.

UNDERGROUND TROLLEY SYSTEM. No. 565,240. Patented Aug. 4, 1896.

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UNITED STATES vPATENT OFFICE'.

RICHARD E. SHERMAN AND DEXTER E. KENYON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

U N D'ERG ROU N D-TROLLEY SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 565,240, dated August 4, 1896,

Application led November 12, 1895. Serial No. 568,730. (No model.) A

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, RICHARD E. SHER- MAN and DEXTER E. KENYON, citizens of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Underground-Trolley Systems, of which the following is a specification.

The objects of our invention are to greatly simplify the construction of an undergroundtrolley system and thus materially cheapen the same, while at the same time increasing its efficiency in the matter of retaining the current on the conductor against tendency to leakage as the result of moisture entering the conduit through the trolley-slot.

To accomplish our aforesaid objects, we have devised the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a cross-sectional View showing the slotted conduit below the track and containing the housing for the slotted tubular chambers containing the insulated outgoing and return conductors with which the respective trolleys are brought into contact through the slots; Fig. 2, an enlarged broken sectional view showing the preferred' construction of the trolley; Fig. 3, a section taken at the line 3 on Fig. 2 and viewed in the direction of the arrow, and Fig. 4 a section taken at the line 4 on Fig. 2 and viewed in the direction of the arrow.

'A is the underground conduit, shown as of cylindrical shape and formed, say, of sheet metal, though it maybe of any other desired shape and material. The conduit portion of our improved system may be, generally speaking, like other known underground-conduit structures involving metal yokes B, placed at intervals in the excavation below the surface track C, along the center of which is the slot r, leading into the conduit for the admission of the grip or trolley.

D is the conductor-housing, which we form in massive sections, say, a few feet in length, of metal or, and preferably, baked clay or masonry. Each section is of the general T shape illustrated with tubular and preferably cylindrical openings o and o formed longitudinally through it at opposite sides of its center and into which openings longitudinal slots p and p lead, preferably, but not necessarily, from their under sides. The housin g-sections bear at their bases q on the base of the conduit A and are placed in the latter en'd to end throughout the route and should be cemented together where they join to render the housing and the slots therein continuous. The exterior shape of the housing D is preferably that illustrated, whereby it slopes on its top from the center toward the opposite sides, which are rounded conveXly throughout a portion of their extent and concavely throughout the remainder thereof and terminate in prolonged drip edges t. The advantage of the described slope of the conductorhousing is its tendency to shed moisture by directing it into the bottom of the conduit, whence it may escape through grooves t in the bottom of the housing-base q to outlets n, leading at intervals from the conduit to a sewer. (Not shown.) Inside the openings o and o are the conductors, which we prefer to provide in the form of metal tubes E and E', slotted longitudinally to cause their slots to coincide with the housing-slots p and p; and the conductors E and E are incased, up to their slots, in insulating material m, such as glass or hard rubber, the more effectually to insulate the conductors even though the housing D be formed of baked clay, which is more or less porous. v

The conductors E and E afford, respectively, the outgoing conductor and the returnconductor for the current.

F is our improved trolley device. To serve our purpose of taking the current from one conductor and returning it to the other the trolley device is bifurcated or formed with two arms F and F2, though each arm involves the same construction. Hence the description of one applies to either. On one end of a metal stem Z is a cross-bar l', affording a non-rotary shaft carrying at its outer ends the metal rollers 7c 7c, which should conform to the inner contour of the tubular conductor against which they bear at opposite sides of the longitudinal slot at which the stem Z enters the housing. Below the conductor the stem is surrounded by a metal sleeve i, between which and a nut on the outer end of the stem is confined, in compressed condition, a spring t', the tendency of which is to hold the roller end of the stem IOO Z down against its seat on the conductor. About the sleeve 7l the stem Z is surrounded. by insulation i2. The trolley-pole F3, Which depends from the car (not shown) that carries the trolley device into the slot r, is flanked by the arms F and F2, bent inside the conduit A to extend about the sides of the housing D and connect with the stern Z at an offset in the insulation i2. These arms are preferably formed of metal, each in two pieces 7L and h', adjusted flatwise together and fastened by screws s, either or both of these pieces being provided with longitudinal grooves :n to incase the insulated wires w, which proceed from the motor on the car and are fastened to the metal tube 'L'. Thus electrical connection is made between the conductors F. and E through the motor on the car by the branches F and F2 oi' the trolley device, thereby providing for charging the motor from the conductor E to drive the car and for returning the current to the generator by the conductor E.

NVhile we much prefer the tubular form of the conductors in the housing` D, they may be mere Wires suspended in the tubular openings. Hence we do not limit our invention to the construction of the conductors illustrated.

What We claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In an underground-trolley system, the combination With the slotted conduit of a housing therein containing longitudinal slotted tubular openings for the outgoing and ren turn conductors of the line, and a bifurcated trolley device comprising conducting-arms branching from the trolley-pole and terminatin g in contacts and straddling said housing to enter said contacts into said tubular openings through their slots from sides of said housing, substantially as described.

2. In an underground-trolley system, the combination with the slotted conduit of the T-shaped housing supported along its base on the base of the conduit and containing longitudinal slotted tubular openings for the outgoing and return conductors of the line, and a bifurcated trolley vdevice comprising conducting-arms terminating in roller-contacts and straddlin g said housing to enter said contacts into said tub ularopenin gs through their slots from opposite sides of said housi`11g,'sub stantially as described.

3. In an underground-trolley system, the combination with the slotted conduit of the T-shaped housing D therein containing longitudinal slotted tubular openings for the outgoing and return conductors of the line, said housing having its top sloping toward opposite sides, said sides being convexly rounded at their upper portions and concaved and extended into drip edges at their lower portions, and a trolley device extending into the conduit through its slot and branching into trolley-carrying arms extending, respectively, into said tubular openings through their slots, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. In an underground-trolley system, the combination with the slotted conduit of a housing therein containing longitudinal slotted tubular openings for the outgoing and return conductors of the line, and a bifurcated trolley device comprising arms branching from the troll ey-pole which passes through the conduit-slot, and straddling said housing, each arm carrying at its end a spring-controlled metal stem terminating at one end in a roller-contact device Within one of said openings, and insulated conductingwires on said arms electrically connected with said stems, substantially as described.

5. In an underground-trolley system, the combination With the slotted conduit of a housing therein containing longitudinal slotted tubular openings, tubular conductors in said openings, and a trolley device F comprising the pole F3 carrying the bent arms F' and F2 formed with grooved sections and having the' insulated 'conducting-Wires confined between them, each arm terminating in a spring-controlled metal stem l in a metal sleeve t surrounded by insulation, and connected with said Wires, said stem terminating in a shaft Z carrying at its opposite ends rollers 7o Within a tubular conductor, substantially as described.

RICHARD E. SHERMAN. DEXTER E. KENYON.

In presence of J N. HANSON, J. H. LEE. 

